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Protein tryptophan accessibility studied by fluorescence quenching
Author(s) -
Möller Matías,
Denicola Ana
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
biochemistry and molecular biology education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.34
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1539-3429
pISSN - 1470-8175
DOI - 10.1002/bmb.2002.494030030035
Subject(s) - tryptophan , ovalbumin , quenching (fluorescence) , fluorescence , bovine serum albumin , chemistry , fluorescence spectroscopy , emission spectrum , analytical chemistry (journal) , photochemistry , spectral line , biochemistry , chromatography , biology , physics , optics , immunology , amino acid , immune system , astronomy
A laboratory class is described to introduce the biochemistry major students to the basic concepts and various applications of fluorescence spectroscopy. Through simple and inexpensive experiments the students learn how to record excitation and emission spectra and measure intrinsic protein fluorescence and its quenching to elucidate the local tryptophan environment. Free tryptophan, ovalbumin, and bovine serum albumin are used for the experiments. The structural information that can be retrieved from emission spectra, as well as from quenching data, is discussed.